Implementing a consultation-liaison service in a psychiatrically underserved area.

Most multidisciplinary consultation-liaison services are developed in settings where there are both psychiatric residents and an adequate psychiatric liaison faculty. In this paper, the authors report some of the obstacles and attempts at overcoming them in the implementation of such services in an underserved area in which there is a scarcity of both residents in training and psychiatric liaison faculty. The process of collaboration between a primary-care-oriented medical school and a community general hospital is described, and roles of program participants are defined. Special attention is paid to funding problems.